1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] move lightly and quickly or hurriedly:the girls skittered up the stairs figurativeher mind skittered back to that day at the office
2 [with object] draw (bait) jerkily across the surface of the water as a technique in fishing.
Origin:
mid 19th century: apparently a frequentative of skite
skitter in other Oxford dictionaries
Definition of skitter in the US English dictionary